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President Nana Akufo-Addo wants beneficiaries of the free Senior High School (SHS) policy to shame critics of the programme by obtaining good grades when they sit for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) next year.

He says the only way beneficiaries can prove the efficiency of the policy is to work hard to secure quality results when they sit for the examination.

Interacting with students at the St. Monica’s SHS in Asante Mampong in the Ashanti Region as part of his tour to the region, President Akufo-Addo said he is confident the beneficiaries will not disappoint the nation.

“As you know, not everybody wanted the free SHS programme. We had powerful sources within this country that opposed it. Some people said it was too big a drain on the country’s resources. They have even indicated that when they come into office they will review it.

“I want you to do one thing for me – in your exam that will be held in June next year which will be the first exam for the products of the free SHS system, use it to shame them so that everybody in Ghana will know that yes, free SHS was a good idea,” he told the students.

This is not the first time the President is making such an appeal to the first batch of the policy to do him proud by delivering good results.

Good results from the pioneering batch, according to the President, will prove to the critics that Ghanaians are ready to take advantage of the free SHS policy to enhance the quality of the country’s human resource.

It followed comments made by former President John Mahama to the effect that parents will soon start losing faith in the public SHS system because of the drop in quality with the introduction of the programme.

Since the introduction of the free SHS, the opposition National Democratic Congress has been accused of working against the policy to score cheap political points.